Spindle-bearing for mules and jacks



(No Model.)

- J. T. MEATS.

SPINDLE BEARING FOR MULES AND JAGKS.

N0.324,866. Patented Aug 25, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE...

JOHN T. MEATS, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPlNDLE-BEARING FOR MULES AND JACKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,866, dated August 25,1885.

Application tiled January 12, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN T. lVIEA'lS, of

V Taunton, county of Bristol, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Spindle Bearings for Mules and Jacks, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

'My invention in mules or jacks relates to means for supporting the spindle.

Heretofore in this class of machines the spindles have had their bearings in metal bolsters and steps driven or pressed into wooden rails attached to and forming part of the carriage; and so,also,the bolsters have been cast as parts of a rail to be attached to the carriage in place of the usual wooden beams in which the bearings were driven or pressed.

WVhen a series of bolsters are cast integral or as parts of a rail, it has been found very difficult, if not almost impossible, to bore out the holes for the reception of the spindles with such degree of accuracy as to avoid deviations one from the other, and consequently the spindles fail to standin proper alignment, and are made to bear unequally against the interior of the bolster at one or the other end thereof; and so, also, when the bolsters form integral parts of the rail the whole construct-ion becomes so stiff and rigid as to prevent any movement of the bolsters, and hence the spin dlcs, it run at high speed, tremble or vibrate badly. When a wooden rail is used, the latter is liable to warp and twist out of shape.

To overcome the difficulties alluded to, I have produced a metal rail in which the independent bearings, which term includes both the bolster and the footstep, are permitted to tip or rock on the rail as a fulcrum; and to prevent longitudinal movement of the said bearings,I have provided the rail with a bearingholding spring-r0d, which is clamped between the two halves or parts of the rail, the clamping part of the rail having projections orlngs to bear upon the holding-rod at points between the hearings in the rails. The flange or web of the main part of the rail has openings or seats to receive the bearings, the said openings being intersected by a bearing-holding rod, so that the latter is permitted to act against a part of the bearing externally to hold (No model.)

it in place against longitudinal or vertical movement in the rail.

Mounting the metal bolsters and footsteps in a metal rail, as described, enables the production of a mule-carriage in which. the spindles may be run at a very high speed, and at the same time both the cost of the carriage and its spindles are reduced.

Figure 1,in elevatiomshows aspindle mounted in hearings in the rails of a mule-carriage, the latter, the rails and bearings, being in section. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view, on an en larged scale, of a part of the bolster-rail and bolsters therein, one bolster being partially broken out. Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 2 in the dotted line w m. Fig. 4 shows a modified form of rail in plan, partially broken out, with bolsters and bearing holding-rod; and Fig. 5 is a section of Fig. 4c in the line 00 m The bolster and i'ootstep rails are substantially alike, so l-need describe specifically but one of themviz.,the bolster-rail-and briefly refer to like parts of the step-rail by proper letters.

The mule or jack carriage A, its beams a a b b, the spindle 0, its whirl c, and drivingband c'flare all common to usual 3' acks or mules.

The rails d m, of cast metal, or it may be of rolled steel, have, respectively, horizontally projecting flanges d m, which at suitable intervals are bored or cut through to provide openings for the reception of the bearings ef, the former being the bolster and the latter the footstep. The edges of the flanges d m of each of the rails d m are grooved longitudinally, as at d the groove being sufficiently deep to cut partially into and to intersect the openings in the said flanges, so that the spring-rods d m inserted in the said grooves will stand in and across one side of 'each of the bearing receivingopenings, as shown in Fig. 2.

Each bearing 6 f is provided externally with an enlarged top part to receive oil, and below the said top part the exterior of the bearing is preferably'grooved annularly, or slightly curved, as shown, or so shaped as to cause the periphery of the bearing and the walls of the flange of the rail surrounding it to touch each other in the line as m, to leave spaces (see Figs. 3 and 5) above and below the said center line, xaa, to enable the bearings to rock slightly in the openings made for their reception in the flanges Jon, the spring-rods d m, by entering the short concaved grooves 3 of the bearings, (see Fig; 3,) keeping the latter from being readily lifted out of the openings in the rail and from rotating with the spindles; but the bearings may be removed by applying to them sufficient force or end pressure to cause them to spring the rods aside.

The bearing-holding spring-rods d m are held in place by like clamps, h h, (shown in Figs. 1 to 3,) as L-shaped rails connected to the main rails 01 m by means of suitable screws or bolts, g, the said clamps having lugs or projections 4 4 to bear against the bearing-holding rods in the grooved edges of the flanges d m, midway between the holes or openings therein, which receive the bearings, spaces 5 being left between the said lugs and opposite the grooved part 3 of the bear-ings to permit of the outward movement of the rods d m, as

when the bearings are to be removed, as stated, or are to be inserted in place.

The clamps (shown in Figs. 1 to 4) are very stiff and add materially to the strength of the rail; but I do not desire to limit my invention to the exact shape of rail-clamp shown, for instead I may employ a rail the flange d of which is notched in from its inner edge, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and on the clampingpart it of the rail the lugs or projections may be made somewhat longer, as shown at 8, and the inner ends of the said lugs may be notched for the reception of the bearing-holding springrod d The rods (PM will be made of spring metal, so that they may be sprung back far enough to enable a bolster or a step to be removed from its rail without withdrawing the rod. The bolsters and the footsteps, supported as described, may tip a very little in-the sockets or openings of the rails, but need not move laterally. The bolsters are clamped, as it were,

between portions of the two halves of the bolster-rails and the steps between the separate pieces of the step-rail, the said rails being held in place between the wooden beams a a and b b.

he surface of the bolster and of the step,

and the edge of the web or flange in line with it, aremade to touch each other in the line x x, to thus avoid lateral movement in case lateral movement be not desired; but the opposed surfaces of the web or flange on the one side, and the part of the bolster or step in line with it, are so shaped, curved, or rounded as to permit the bolster and step to tip on the flange or web as its fulcrum.

Bolsters and footsteps, supported, as described, between their ends by a thin flange or web, permit of quick and easy adjustment of the bearings to correctly align the spindles.

The band-pull is in the direction to keep the annularly-grooved parts of the bolster and footstep in contact with the webs or flanges which serve as their fulcra.

In a mule or jack it is very desirable to avoid the extension of the upper ends of the bearings above the level of the beams a a or b b, and to obviate this the main body of the rail is made -'|-shaped, thus affording a nearly central flange to receive and support the bearings and permit them to tip.

I claim 1. A jack or mule carriage having a I- shaped rail, and the bearings grooved externally and supported between their ends by and to tip or rock on a flange, d, of the said rail, combined with the rod d acting against the peripheries of the said bearings from end to end of the rail and retaining them in the openings in the-said rail, substantially as described.

2. The bolsters or bearings grooved at their peripheries and the rail and its flange provided with openings to receive the said bolsters, combined with the spring-rod, and with the part h of the rail, having projections to bear against the rod at suitable intervals to keep the rod in contact with the said bolsters or bearings, substantially as described.

' 3. The rail portion d, having the laterallyextended flange provided with openings for the reception of the bearings, and the bearings, shaped externally, as described, to enter said openings loosely, combined with the rod intersecting the said openings and acting against the bearings, and with means to hold the said rod in place at suitable intervals,

substantially as described.

4. The carriage A, provided with the metal rails d m, having, respectively, laterally-ex; tended flanges d m, provided with openings, for the reception, respectively, of the bolster and the footstep bearings loosely, the separate bolsters and footsteps placed loosely in the openings of the said flanges, and the spindle placed in the said bearings and sustained thereby above and below its whirl, combined with means for holding the said bolsters and footsteps in the openings of the said flanges, permitting them to tip to accommodate the spindle, but restraining their rotation with the spindle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J OHN' T. MEATS. Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. .NoYEs.

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